I went on one of them curiosity journeys in the recess of my Computer Encyclopedia and found some interesting trivial or possible clues to the loud hacking I must listen to from various cultures of the world that can be extremely irritating.

I will quote directly from Encyclopedia Britannica.

MUCUS -

“viscous fluid that moistens, lubricates, and protects many of the passages of the digestive and respiratory tracts in the body. Mucus is composed of water, epithelial (surface) cells, dead leukocytes, mucin, and inorganic salts. Mucus is produced by mucous cells, which are frequently clustered into small glands located on the mucous membrane that lines virtually the entire digestive tract. Large numbers of mucous cells occur in the mouth, where mucus is used both to moisten food and to keep the oral membranes moist while they are in direct contact with the air. Mucus in the nose helps to trap dust, bacteria, and other small inhaled particles. The stomach also has large numbers of mucous cells. Gastric mucus forms a layer about one millimetre thick that lines the stomach, protecting the organ from highly acidic gastric juice and preventing the juice from digesting the stomach itself.”

I am in a country that eats spicy food.

I am in a country that is full of DUST.

I am coughing and hacking also, and catch myself clearing my throat the same as the locals. I do this with a lot more manners and consideration for my fellow citizens of the planet though and take a better perspective on where to spit.

I can definitely say in the countries with very spicy food and dusty they spit, hack, and clear their throats. This would make sense if the mucus glands demand that it happen. Dust is a big pollution, and I remember reading that the first know deaths from pollution happened in London from the dust of carriages in the 1800’s.

Most countries with dirt roads or dirt floors for the inside of their homes spend lot of time watering in front of the home to make the ground hard, and to keep the dust down. In the morning though when they are using the semi-rake-broom made of stiff grass or broom fibers it makes a dust storm that can be very annoying.

I will go on a big bike ride today to clean my lungs. I am sure a good job around the park would make my lungs cleaners.

BIKE TOURS OF HAMPI - 30 Rupees per day.

I am becoming a big fan of the Bike Rental in India. It is a great way to travel. I

CALLED MY PARENTS - Saturday Morning

I called my parents to wish them Merry Christmas and hear the news on how they celebrated Christmas with the rest of the family. India is becoming one of my favorite countries to live and travel in because of the efficiency of their infrastructure.

I walked into a very small telephone center and called my parents. I paid 172 Rupees. I talked for 14.33 minutes. The cost was 12 Rupees per minute. I paid 3.82 U.S.A. Dollars for this telephone call and had a connection like I was in the other room. So I was very excited to it was just too easy, this made them and me very happy.

PACKAGE RECEIVED FROM INDIA

I sent a package from Margoa, in the State of Goa, India to Orland in the state of Indiana, of the USA on the 6th of January and it arrived I believe on the 24th of January.

I sent some special electrical devices that convert a light socket to a plug outlet and some very large fish hooks. I am not sure who was happier my parents or me. These 2 very strange cloth wrapped package from India arrives in a small rural town in Indiana and the postman, the neighbors, and the coffee clutch get to try to figure out what is inside and why I sent it to them. My father has already gave away 2 of the hooks to friends of his and that made me very happy. It was good to know that he knew I would not care and that this was good thing to do… give. Heaven forbid that my parents ever come to India they would spend their whole time giving out Rupees to the children and beggars asking for money.

No that is not true, they would learn like me that giving children money just makes them into to beggars and does not help them.

Well, I am very happy to know that is possible to send things I buy in India to the USA cheaply and pretty efficiently. I will soon have another 4-6 packages or parcels as they call them here to send. They do not understand the world package, but when I use the word parcel they do.

I made a page for labeling and inserted some advice and links from Chris of Idaho.

I think the lights go out daily for a few minutes in the morning around 6 am. It is like clockwork in India. Everyday, and I have no clue why?

MAXIMUM WATTS - Friday Morning

I just blew another fuse or the wire inside the switch burnt through, I am not sure. I think I need to work on learning or making a guide to show what are the maximum wattages that can be used in the world. I know or think that maybe 3-5 one hundred watt light bulbs can be used for sure in most countries.

I hope this did not cause problems for some travelers. There is a noise, hustle-bustle outside from people talking. If by chance a person is up at 5 trying to prepare to leave and is on my same circuit, then this could be a problem for them.

What is the problem? Really the problem is that I never know how many people are on a circuit. The whole hotel could be on one circuit in places and in others maybe they have just one room. There is not rhyme or reason to know and extremely difficult to judge. I try to look over the electrical systems in hotels before I use the electricity, but often it may look great and be a problem. That is the situation here, I was betting that this new hotel the Shanti was better then the more scrubby Ganesh, and more family ran type. But this is often the opposite because the hotels are trying to add every possible outlet and light and the mom and pop places just are using normal amounts. So the Ganesh had a better electrical system… maybe.

I referenced the switch. There is a loose switch outside my room and it may have burned up. They have these switches that can turn off the whole room for the manager outside the rooms. This switch in the proper usage should be the breaker. But here it is just a normal switch. In Margao in the Greenview hotel they had it set up correctly.

I have found that they always run the plugs through a switch here. This can be a problem because when you connect the wires to the switch poles they often do them too loose and they burn when they arc across. I can often tell the switches are arcing inside the box. Not a big problem in India because the walls are concrete. In the USA they put them in plastic or steal boxes for protection. It is the same thing in the USA if you have a lazy electrician that does not make good connections. This is what happens when the cousin wires the house.

CHRIS on shower!

I have realized that the shower pipe and nozzle is of no accord. This is just a modern fixture that is convenient. I take lot of shower here in India with a large bucket and use a dipper to dump water on my head and body. There is no need to design a shower with a nozzle, only the bucket and a dipper is needed. It works a lot better also because you can put enough water on in strategic locations quickly and efficiently. The concept of shower is also a dip and dump over your head method and is easier when traveling.

HAMPI IS VERY CONFUSING

This place has about 26 square kilometers of ruins. That is a lot of things to look at and I am realizing that nothing makes sense and the information I have is fragmented. I am leaning towards getting a guide to help, but have not met anyone that I trust so far, and the India people are prone to saying what they think is needed to be heard by the western people, so that sort of devalues a guide.

I went with Lorina to a few places yesterday, and now I am going to reassert myself to learn or understand. The biggest problem about this site is the need to understand the extensive maps, and the distance between ruins is enough that you lose momentum.

I get the feeling these sites are similar to France, and England lot of construction from the 1500’s on and not ancient ruins. I am trying to learn or conceptualize the use of wall around the ruins. It is very long, but strangely not obvious why there is a wall. I think it may be around the high spot of land, but the site is full of large rocks and this disrupts the way I visualize the land, and the road I think meanders different than the way they originally used the site. There is the why and where they constructed the site originally and the way the site is used currently is different, therefore the logic of the living patterns is difficult to discern.

I am good with maps and very mechanical or logistical so I think I can put it together with time. I will probably stay here until after new years for the insurance I do not spend some depressing day with a bunch of spitting and hacking India people in some nowhere city. I am hedging my bets on enjoyment.

Plus Shackle is still working on a few models of new products and is finishing up my first order. I am going to have 2 types of backpack organizers. A 19-inch wide and a 12-inch wide one, but the same design. I am hoping to make about 7 more prototypes so I can have them copied in another location.

I send some things to the USA on the 6th of December and they have not arrived yet, so I am waiting for confirmation that it is possible to securely send things from India to the USA by normal post.

But I must be careful because I will have to carry all the things I make until I am sure, and this is a lot of weight, or more correctly a lot of bulk. I am probably just worried. I think I have about 4 pounds or 2 kilos of material products, which is not much.

Backpack Cover

3 Versions of secret pockets

Shampoo and bath holder.

Small bags for holding loose items in bag

Book bag to protect the books.

Water bottle holder

Valuables holder pouch.

My end goal of these products is a complete system for managing the things I carry in my bag. I hopefully should be able to walk in a room and hang up everything in my bag on the wall in about 2 minutes. I still have a few loose items hanging around. I could put them all in my backpack organizer, but the shower things need plastic or easily washable bags. The books I put in my pail section of my backpack, so I guess I will make an organizer to manage the stuff I store in the bottom of my backpack and the stuff I store in the side pockets.

I am realizing that all the pockets on my backpack are just an annoyance. I suppose some people take everything out of their backpack at each stop; other may live out of the bag, taking and returning things to and from the bag.

I take everything out of m bag, because the bag is awkward. A suitcase would be much better for working out of, while a backpack is flimsy and falls down, slides, and moves too easily.

CHRISTMAS EVE - Thursday Morning

I went to dinner with the American girl Lorina; she is leaving on the 26th for Bangalore by train. I thought about going along but have realized she is very nice, but very different than me by that she travels very fast. But the dinner was nice and great to talk with a person that likes the USA and talks English. I was laughing to when we discussed this because she started to say she was an anti-USA person, and I think in a fashionable way she takes that stance, but there in absolutely nothing in her actions or words.

I will probably avoid her today because she is constantly talking about here prospective boyfriends and I am starting to suffer from the fact that these are not boyfriends, but guys she wished to date, but it appears to be problems she is discussing. When I step back it is obsessive and she needs some balance, but she is a great girl and full of energy, and this is only me no wanting to listen to her boy situation which at her age of 32 I am considering co-dependant and sort of childish. Better to keep my new friends in balance and not be overwhelmed with their present mental deliberations.

I do the same, so I cannot say much, or understand, when you are traveling alone for a long time you can start to repeat the same story line in your head. She needs a project and right now that project or mission is the 2 guys she want to see or cull away from their present girl friends.

APPROACHING 3 MONTHS IN INDIA

I have been in India for maybe a month and one-half, but I am thinking I will start moving towards my jump point to Thailand of Calcutta or maybe Katmandu, Nepal. I must do this because I travel so slow and take my time or I will be in India longer than I wish.

I have made a resolution with myself that I will not stay in a country longer than I am happy. I think 3 months is about all I wish for this trip or any trip to India. It is sad too, because it is very easy to travel around this country and very cheap, but the people are socially at the lowest level I have encountered, except for maybe jungle people on the Amazon River. The normal citizen behaves closer to an animal than most countries.

To me there is some continuum between civilized like England and the USA with laws and rules to zero rules and closer to Animal behavior. For example an Animal will just stop and urinate or go for a tree anywhere.

MET AMERICAN GIRL - Wednesday Morning

There is an amazing American girl here in Hampi. I met her quite by obnoxious chance when I was making a joke if she wanted to buy some clothes from Shackle the lady that is sewing up some bags for me. I do this sometimes and sit with the local and touting at the western people. The western people are normally very much a pain in the butt and very rude. On the other hand the American culture has one of them Americanism that says we must comment or respond back. A European has no qualms about ignoring people.

But I met her and she has traveled to over 30 countries and is on her second trip. Her first trip was for one and one-half years and she will be gone that long this time. She would be classified for sure as a long-term traveler.

We were comparing note and we agree on a lot of things about travel. One very particular thing we both agree on is that we should be prepared and feel safe, she said,

“I do these things and when I leave my room I do not think about it!”

I am always earmarking or observing on the safety stuff, but I am always the safe one and the people that get robbed are the ones that will not admit they did something stupid. It is difficult in India to know who is robbed because the travelers are not a community that much. In Palolem beach they were a little, but most places they are not barely talking to each other. The community of Central and South America was 10 times more helpful and knowledgeable of things that happened to the travel community.

Note I just went outside and told the jerk that is clearing his throat that he is gross. He is too stupid to understand he is one of them religious guys walking around with a shave head and white skirt. He is also one of the people that were staking out my room to rob it.

I do not think he live here. It is obvious that the Vishnu and the Ganesh Hotels owned by the same family could care less if they provided western hospitality; they just have glossed it over to provide the first level, but are absolutely India after the fascia.

CONFIRMED INDIA THEFT TACTIC - Wednesday Morning

I am a very early riser and am often running around and empty world. That means that when I am in a hotel with a shared bathroom it is not problem for me because everyone else is sleeping. But I have gone to the toilet twice in the last 2 days as normal when I woke up at more or less 5:00 am. Today it was exactly 4:56 when I walked out of the toilet and back to my room.

This is small place and a person can hear about anything, so when I walked out of the toilet and a man is sitting there I am very suspicious. This is like an open toilet the door in an airport and there is no top to the entrance door. It would be same as being in an airport and someone comes in the toilet. You hear noises and just think to yourself that someone entered. But to not hear them is suspicious and makes me question why?

But I have walked out of the toilet when I was alone up stair now 3 times to catch a person twice walking down the step as I left the toilet and 1 time sitting. 2 times it was at 5 in the morning. Trust me the India people are not early risers other than to sit around and clear their throats and spit, that it dependable as a rooster.

So for me to walk out the toilet and see people 3 times is just beyond coincidence. They hear the door to the toilet locking and are running to see if they can rob my room. I have put the lock on the door and they cannot. But I will almost guarantee that they wait around in India for the western people to not lock their door when they go to the toilet